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Halfway through our loan, we declared: “If ever there was a driver's car, our long-term Focus ZX3 is one. Those who think otherwise are just plain wrong.” Photo by Matthew Reuter

Lost and Found: Former long-termer Ford Focus

September 2, 2012

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With all apologies to fans of the color, we did not think it the car's most attractive feature, a sort of cross between a microwaved blue Crayola and the “mart” half of the old Kmart logo. Malibu blue, Ford called it, and nothing in the current Ford palette truly compares. An analog persisted for years called Bright Atlantic blue, and though some argue it was identical in paint code, it sure seemed more pleasing than the Pacific-themed Malibu, at least to my eye.

All that blue was accented by dull, black plastic bits edging the rockers, lining the B-pillars, spanning the doors and forming the nonbreakaway side-mirror housings. Cheap gray cloth stretched over the seats, matching the uniformly gray plastic dash, center stack and center console.

Ah, and yet we loved the 2000 Ford Focus ZX3 from the moment it joined our long-term fleet. Like a frisky little puppy, it bounded into our hearts, cheering our every day with its bright paint and $14,290 sticker. Its options included ABS and side airbags. The fog lamps, 15-inch aluminum wheels and high-output 130-hp, 2.0-liter Zetec four-banger and five-speed manual came standard with the ZX3 trim.

Part of the car's charm lay in its quirks, such as roll-down windows that cranked in the opposite direction as dictated by habit. Younger staffers without the muscle memory of manual windows couldn't understand the fuss, but those of us who grew up with nonpower windows were constantly stymied. The steering wheel didn't tilt or telescope, forcing every driver to find a comfortable position using solely the seat's manual height and slide adjustments—not easy when the drivers' heights varied by more than a foot.

Halfway through our loan, we declared: “If ever there was a driver's car, our long-term Focus ZX3 is one. Those who think otherwise are just plain wrong.” In all the years since we returned the car, I've thought of it often, its peppy spirit, its eager embrace of the driving-a-slow-car-fast ethos and all the conversations shared with then-publisher, Leon Mandel, over the sheer joy of driving it like a mad hatter.

And then I received an e-mail:

“Long-term test car, 12-year update: My car, a Focus ZX3 five-speed manual, in an eye-popping Malibu blue, debuted in the April 3, 2000, issue of Autoweek as a long-term test vehicle. After the magazine staff kept company with it for a year, it was back to the manufacturer, the employee resale program and eventually into the hands of a high-school student—me. . .”

. . . At which point I broke down in tears, blubbering as I scanned the e-mail again, opening the attached photos to see the car we loved so dearly looking none the worse for the years. The blue still shines, the wheels are unchanged, the leather-wrapped steering wheel retains its tanned coat. A roof rack is the only obvious alteration. It felt Biblical, the prodigal son returned, lost, and then found.

Thank you, Matthew Reuter, M.D., for sharing, and for taking such great care of our, er, your car all these years.